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Sky Deutschland investor rejects BSkyB buyout

The biggest minority shareholder in Sky Deutschland, Crispin Odey, has rejected BskyB’s offer to buy his share in the business

The biggest minority shareholder in Sky Deutschland, Crispin Odey, has rejected BskyB’s offer to buy his share in the business. BSkyB announced its plans last week to buy Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia from Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, for up to £7.4 billion. The deal involved buying Fox’s stake in Sky Deutschland for £2.9bn, with the remaining shareholders being offered the same price of €6.75 a share.

Odey, the hedge fund manager and former son in law of Rupert Murdoch is Sky Deutschland’s second biggest shareholder, after Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, with a stake of around 8%. Odey says the offer to buy his stake undervalues the business, as there was significant growth in the German TV market.

SkyB has not set a minimum acceptance in its Sky Deutschland offer and has stressed that it does not need full control to be able to benefit from the deal. Holding a majority stake in Sky Deutschland will allow BSkyB to select the company’s Supervisory Board members and control the group’s dividend policy.

The Association of Commercial Broadcasters and Audiovisual Services (VPRT) recently revealed the results of its ‘Pay-TV in Germany 2014’ survey, showing that revenues generated by pay-TV and paid VoD increased to as much as €2.2 billion in the German-speaking area.